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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-20822

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the proportion of total journeys that will be made by bus by 2030 as a result of its policies.

The appraisal that supported the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) assessed the change in access public transport use and accessibility at a national and regional level to a range of locations, including health care; education and employment centres. The outcomes of this work were reported in the final-technical-report-28-december-2022-stpr2.pdf (transport.gov.scot) and accompanying detailed-appraisal-summary-table-national.pdf (transport.gov.scot). This appraisal was supported by a set of updated transport forecasts to 2045, which considered the impact of a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030 and an alternative scenario. Details of how these were developed can be found here: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/52476/appendix-f-approach-to-scenario-planning-december-2022-stpr2.pdf .

It should be noted that the STPR2 appraisal and assessment covered infrastructure interventions and so did not specifically consider the future impacts of, for example, potential bus franchising in Scotland, the establishment of local council operated bus companies, or the outcomes of the Fair Fares Review. The impact of individual policies on bus use may be evaluated on a policy by policy basis through the transport appraisal process as they are developed

Question reference: S6W-21166

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of the five actions listed on page 25 of its report, Cleaner Air For Scotland 2: Towards a Better Place for Everyone, broken down by which actions (a) have been completed, (b) are underway and (c) have not yet started.

Question reference: S6W-20820

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 20 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many new (a) fossil fuel-powered, (b) electric and (c) other low emission technology vehicles were purchased across the public sector fleet in each of the past five years.

Scottish Government fleet purchases for the last 5 years, broken down by category, are provided in the following table.

Year	Diesel	Petrol	Hybrid	Electric Range Extender	Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV)	Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
2018	8	0	3	2	9	2
2019	4	0	2	0	35	9
2020	3	0	0	0	11	3
2021	3	0	0	0	7	26
2022	2	0	0	0	1	12
2023	2	0	0	0	16	0

We do not hold a breakdown of the number of fossil-fuelled and Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) purchased across the public sector in each of the last 5 years.

In 2020 and 2022 Transport Scotland commissioned a survey of vehicle types across Scottish public body fleets. Those that responded identified 1,859 ULEV vehicles in the 2020 public sector fleet and 4,705 in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-20813

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support research and development of Scotland-based processing centres to test and reassemble used lithium batteries for reuse.

Zero Waste Scotland has worked with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise to produce three reports , published in 2021, forming the series ‘Battery use in Scotland now and in the future’.

Further to the original three reports, Transport Scotland (in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland) commissioned a report to explore actions required to support the establishment of a circular economy for batteries in Scotland, which will be published in due course.

The enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank have a key role in promoting and scaling up circular economy practices and business models.

Question reference: S6W-20823

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of the amount of critical minerals required for its transport policies.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the length of the battery supply chain, however no specific assessment has been done to date on quantities of minerals required for the transport network. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-21161

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its publication, Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, for what reason 25% of Care at Home clients aged 18-64 were not in receipt of Free Personal Care as at 31 March 2023.

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collection does not include information which would allow us to identify why those 25% were not in receipt of FNPC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

Although Care at Home may include personal and nursing care, it may also take the form of other support services which sit outwith Free Personal Care legislation.

Question reference: S6W-21160

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its publication, Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, for what reason care home residents aged 65 and over were "far more likely to receive FPNC payments than those aged 18 to 64".

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collected does not include information which would allow us to explain why there is a greater proportion of older clients in receipt of FPNC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

Question reference: S6W-20873

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the staff attrition rate in (a) public sector and (b) publicly-funded bodies in each of the past three years.

The Scottish Government does not routinely gather or centrally hold information on staff attrition rates across all public sector, or publicly funded, bodies.

National Statistics on employment across the public sector in Scotland, including headcount by devolved and reserved sectors, are published on a quarterly basis and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/public-sector-employment-statistics/.

In the case of some specific workforces, further information relevant to attrition rates is also available:

Official Statistics on the NHSScotland workforce, including staff turnover, are published and can be found at: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/ .
National Statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including staff turnover by department and devolved administration, are published annually and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics

Question reference: S6W-20821

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by the country of manufacturer of the electric vehicles that are used across its fleet.

Question reference: S6W-20814

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 12 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in developing a domestic recycling infrastructure for (a) electric vehicle and (b) other types of batteries.

Since 2018, the Scottish Government, through Zero Waste Scotland, has supported 4 companies with an interest in battery reprocessing/recycling through the European Regional Development Fund at a total cost of around 67500. Through the Just Transition Fund, we have also invested £626,734 in Ripcell, based in Aberdeen, to deliver an innovative pilot scheme using their patented BiCircular process which uses waste to recycle EV batteries.